It was 1964. President Johnson had just won a landslide victory against Barry Goldwater. Nelson Rockefeller had gone to bed early the previous night and had a deep sleep, knowing quite well what the result would be. Waking up, he drank a sip of coffee and read the news. Rocky wasn't quite sure how to react, partly he wanted to be sad for the loss his party suffered and partly he wanted to smile now that those damn conservatives had been punished for their extremism. As a matter of fact, he just felt empty. Then Happy walked by and glimpsed the paper. "Looks like you're a shoo-in for 1968." Rockefeller smiled and had another gulp of coffee" Yes, I think 1968 will be my year." But I need to secure my position early, he thought.
The Battle of Three Titans
George Romney sat down in his seat. He had plans, but he knew that he needed the backing of the Eastern Establishment under Rockefeller to succeed. The thing was however, Rockefeller didn't seem interested in working towards his gain. He picked up the phone and called Governor Rockefeller. " Hello George, " Rockefeller said " I was just planning on calling you as a matter of fact." George Romney felt his presidential ambitions get flushed down the toilet. " I would love to help Governor."
On November 22, 1967, Nelson Rockefeller formally entered the race, before Nixon did. Both candidates had sizable campaign organisations, with Rockefeller offices established in New Hampshire, New Jersey, Illinois and other important primary states. A Gallup poll in mid-1967 showed Nixon with 40%, followed by Rockefeller with 24%. Rockefeller campaigned on 'an end to the war in Vietnam' and for amending Johnson's Great Society programs and making them more efficient. Rockefeller gained the support of anti-war Republicans, and much of his rhetoric became similar to the Democrat anti-war candidate, Eugene McCarthy.
Like McCarthy, Rockefeller put up a strong showing in New Hampshire, Rockefeller won a resounding victory in the important New Hampshire primary on March 12, winning 65% of the vote.
"Damnit!" Nixon snarled " I will not be defeated!" Pat Buchanan wasn't sure what he was seeing at that moment, animal anger or inner steel. " Sir, I'll add more conservative appeal in your next speeches." "Pat," Nixon growled" We need to win moderates to have any hope of defeating Johnson." " Yes sir, but we need to focus on our current priorities." "If you do that Pat," Nixon replied angrily " you'll give Johnson my head on a silver platter! You'll turn me into the next Barry Goldwater!"
Nixon won a victory in Wisconsin on April 12, though that was to be expected. "Nelson," Romney said" We're leading in the polls in Pennsylvania and Massachusetts. The Democrats are in disarray. If we win the nomination, the Democrats have sliced their own heads off for us." Rockefeller smiled but a nagging voice in the back of his head said remember Tom Dewey 20 years ago.
Rockefeller did indeed win Pennsylvania and Massachusetts, while Nixon won Indiana. On the same day as Nixon's Indiana victory, favourite son Governor James Rhodes won his home state of Ohio(though he was the only one on the ballot) and Nixon won DC.
Governor Reagan read the news. As he saw smoke from the window, the article said 10 KILLED IN LATEST RIOTS. America needed a saviour. Nixon and Rockefeller were just fanning the flames.
Reagan entered the race. Despite his entry, Nixon won victories in Nebraska and Oregon. However in Reagan's home-state of California, he was the only one on the ballot. Reagan raced ahead in the popular vote. But the news was dominated by something else:
RFK SHOT AT BY ASSASSIN, RUSHED TO HOSPITAL
RFK survived and won the New York primary. However, Vice-President Hubert Humphrey would win the Democratic nomination nonetheless. RFK refused to be Humphrey's VP and Edmund Muskie of Maine was picked instead.
The Republican primaries wrapped up relatively unnoticed with Rockefeller victories in New Jersey and Illinois and a Nixon victory in South Dakota.
Total popular vote
- Ronald Reagan - 1,696,632 (38.01%)
- Richard Nixon - 1,679,443 (21.23%)
- Nelson A. Rockefeller - 164,340 (20.55%)
- James A. Rhodes - 614,492 (13.14%)
- Unpledged - 140,639 (3.55%)
- Eugene McCarthy (write-in) - 44,520 (0.70%)
- Harold Stassen - 31,655 (0.62%)
- John Volpe - 31,465 (0.41%)
- Others - 21,456 (0.53%)
- George Wallace (write-in) - 15,291 (0.34%)
- Robert Kennedy (write-in) - 14,524 (0.30%)
- Hubert Humphrey (write-in) - 5,698 (0.10)
- Lyndon Johnson (write-in) - 4,824 (0.09%)
- George Romney - 4,447 (0.04%)
- Raymond P. Shafer - 1,223 (0.03%)
- Barry M. Goldwater - 598 (0.03%)
- William W. Scranton - 724 (0.01%)
- Charles H. Percy - 689 (0.01%)
- John V. Lindsay - 591 (0.01%)
Reagan had won only 1 primary, Rhodes had also won 1 primary, Rockefeller had won 4 primaries and Nixon had won 6 primaries.
Rockefeller and Nixon had the most delegates and were the frontrunners. On the campaign trail, Rockefeller continued to attack Nixon and hoped to win despite conservative animosity to him. Rockefeller called Nixon " a man of old politics" and said he" had"great natural capacity not to do the right thing, especially under pressure." Nixon refused to join in the attacks. Rockefeller also boasted a poll showing him doing the best against Humphrey and rode on his electability.
Rockefeller and Nixon competed for the delegates of favourite sons. Howard Baker of Tennessee, with 28 delegates, and Charles Percy of Illinois, with 58 delegates, endorsed Rockefeller, while Senator John Tower of Texas handed his 40 delegates to Nixon. Clifford Case of New Jersey handed his 22 delegates to Rockefeller, as did Winthrop Rockefeller who gave Nelson 18 delegates and Hiram Fong who gave him 14. Reports surfaced that Nixon had 583 delegates and Rockefeller had 467 delegates. Reagan had approximately 200 delegates, which could prove crucial to whoever wanted to win. The question loomed: who would be the Republican nominee?
The results of the 1968 Republican primaries
Red for Rockefeller, Green for Nixon, Blue for Reagan, Yellow for Rhodes and Grey for No primary/ unpledged delegates.
The convention in Miami was coming...
Red for Rockefeller, Green for Nixon, Blue for Reagan, Yellow for Rhodes and Grey for No primary/ unpledged delegates.
The convention in Miami was coming...
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This is my latest TL about a Nelson Rockefeller presidency. I would like to credit this post by Electric Monk for it sowed the seeds of the idea that started this TL:
This is my latest TL about a Nelson Rockefeller presidency. I would like to credit this post by Electric Monk for it sowed the seeds of the idea that started this TL:
The most likely POD is twofold: Rockefeller declares early and campaigns hard.
Reagan announces his open candidacy in, uh, May? (If I recall correctly) In front of the Southern association he was at. Let's say he does this because Rockefeller goes early.
With an early announcement Reagan can seize most of the South, with Thurmond holding only a couple states for Nixon (instead of the South as a whole IOTL).
Equally Rockefeller follows a mix of his "electibility" argument of OTL but puts up a strong ground game (for instance, IOTL, Nixon stole half of NJ from the Rockefeller supporting governor) and campaigns openly.
We roll into Miami and Nixon can't win on the first ballot: his Southern and Western support floods to Reagan; his Northern support to Rockefeller.
Deadlock. The base doesn't like Rockefeller, but equally they fear Reagan is just Goldwater redux. Rockefeller talks with Reagan, neither concedes.
Rockefeller moves first: he announces BLANK (conservative, Senator) as his running mate and cracks the Midwestern delegates open.
The party leadership, such as it is, goes to Nixon who holds a fairly large block of delegates. Nixon isn't in this to lose, although he knows he has without a first ballot victory, and decides that beating the Democrats is worth something. Nixon's delegates are instructed to go for Rockefeller and about 2/3s actually do.
Rockefeller is over the top.
And yes, RFK survives
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